How many sugary snacks should my child have in a week?

How many sugary snacks should my child have in a week?

John Spencer Ellis (Author, TV Show Host, Trainer and CEO, National Exercise & Sports Trainers Association) gives expert video advice on: How can exercise benefit the elderly?; How can I help prevent childhood obesity?; Should my child take medication to help fight their obesity? and more...

As a parent you may be wondering how often you should allow you child to have some sort of sugary snack, or treat. To be realistic, there are going to be times when the kid is going to ask for that and that it would be acceptable on a limited basis. What happens is oftentimes the parents associate it with a given behaviour or a pattern. Then, as adults, whenever we think we're in distress, or we want to comfort ourselves, or we're rewarding ourselves for good behaviour, we associate it with eating something that we know isn't necessarily good for us but may taste sweet. So that's really where the challenge lies; we're creating a behavioural pattern which magnifies over time and becomes habitual, and then our appetite grows as well so we end up eating more of that same thing to get that same desired effect. However, in general terms, once a week, if the kid wants a particular treat, only after they eat an appropriately balanced meal would I say it's okay. Equally, just from a physiological perspective, if they've been incredibly active outdoors for a long duration they can have something that's higher in sugar directly following that activity to bring their blood sugar back up, but then within about 10 minutes they need to eat something balanced to maintain the appropriate homeostasis and blood sugar levels following that snack. That's what's important.